What’s up, Wisecrack? You’ve been asking for it, and it’s finally
time. This week we’re diving into the insanely
smart Neon Genesis Evangelion. Eva is a phenomenally complex story. On the surface it’s about the end of the
world and teenagers in enormous biomechanical monsters… who fight giant alien-angel-robot…
things. Beneath that, there’s an investigation of
psychosexual development, intimacy, unconscious human motivation, and how hard it is to be
a person. But the real meat of everything is about…
hedgehogs. Welcome to this Wisecrack Edition on the Philosophy
of Neon Genesis Evangelion. And, if you haven’t seen it, spoilers ahead. Just a quick note: even though the Eva reboot
is beautiful, we decided to keep our analysis to the original twenty-six-episode series
and the films (End of Evangelion, and Death and Rebirth). And, if you like this, maybe we’ll come
back for more. So first, a quick recap. In the distant future of 2015 the earth is
under attack by unearthly beings called Angels. In order to combat them, humanity has created
ass-kicking robots that sync with their pilots called Evas. Of course, the Evas aren’t all they seem. They’re actually former Angels infused with
the souls of humans — “Inside the empty shell of each Eva is a human soul," — specifically
the mothers of the various pilots. "Mother?" Shinji, Asuka, and Rei (who is a clone) work
together to pilot the Evas, save the world, and come to terms with their inner demons. Oh, also, Rei bonds the DNA of original angels
Adam and Lillith, becomes a being containing the consciousness of all humanity, and portends
the end of existence, but don’t worry, we’ll cover that. To understand the ending of Evangelion, we
have to dive into some complicated ideas, but I promise, it’ll be fun. Part one: Eschatology and Mysticism
Neon Genesis Evangelion literally means a new beginning. Neon is derived from the greek neos which
means “new,” Genesis is a beginning and a reference to the opening book of the bible,
and Evangelion is the Gospel or the good news - from the same root as evangelize. So Neon Genesis Evangelion is a new telling
of the gospel: genesis. Or the easy way: it’s a re-imagining of
the book of Genesis with lots of technology, brooding, and sex. Eva is overflowing with religious iconography. Some of the references are easy to spot: the
show references the dead sea scrolls explicitly — "Incidents not predicted in the dead sea
scrolls may occur. This should teach the old men a lesson," — and
Ritzgo installs a 666-type firewall to protect the Magi from a cyberattack. “Ikari has installed a type 666 firewall
on the Magi’s external feed circuits. That’s very difficult to breach.” Not to mention the presence of creatures called
angels, two of which are named Adam and Lillith. You might have expected Eve, but Lilith is
Adam’s female counterpart. According to Jewish folklore, She was created
around the same time as Adam and is usually described as being a mother of demons. You know — evil. In Eva, humans are the descendants of Lilith. Some of the religious work is Christian in
nature. The magi system, the super computer network
that runs NERV, has three parts, each named after the three wise men, Casper, Balthasar,
and Melchior. Ya know, the guys that visited baby Jesus
to give him the gifts of Goldeneye, Frankenstein, and Helen Mirren. But the majority of the religious imagery
is based on Jewish mysticism and the Kaballah. Kaballah is an investigative practice of faith
and mystical teachings that seeks religious revelation and sacred knowledge. Some of its biggest fans are ancient rabbis,
and also Madonna. Most of the angels in Eva are taken directly
from texts in Judaism’s extended universe like the Zohar (essentially the Kaballa’s
bible), the Talmud and the book of Enoch. Others are written in el theosophy — a form
of mystical writing that uses the “el” suffix, which is one of the many Hebrew words
for god, to tie names to the divine, and it’s all over Evangelion: Ramiel, Sachiel, Matarael,
and Galadriel. Oh, sorry, scratch that one. In Kabbalistic tradition, the first being
is Adam Kadmon, not to be confused with the other famous Adam, a being of light — which
is eerily similar to the giant of light that is Eva’s first angel, named Adam, who explodes
in the second impact. That second impact kills half the population
of the planet and turns the oceans red revelation-style. This destruction is another call back to the
Kabbalistic tradition, an event called the Shevirat ha-Kelim or the breaking of vessels. See, in the beginning everything was connected,
part of a universal unity that broke apart leaving everything separate and creating the
many-splendored world we live in. It’s sort of like a theological big bang. The purpose of Kaballah is Tikkun ha-Olam
or the restoration of the world—it’s traditionally practiced through acts of good deeds and prayer
— but in Eva it is sort of taken literally. The ethical call of the kaballa is the reunification
of the world, of the different fragmented parts of Adam, called the Sefirot. Which is depicted as the tree of life—as
ten circles in a particular pattern. It creates a sort of visual tree that is meant
to depict the tree of life. It’s why the random circles appear around
Eva Unit one when it is attacked by the nine manufactured angels — they’re all fulfilling
the sacred duty or purpose of the kaballa. The Sefirot reunifies everything, recreating
the universe as a complete whole, and in doing so, destroys the individuality and separation
that defines life as we know it. Many characters pursue the goal of literally
reunifying the world, putting all the different consciousnesses into one place. "Through indiscriminate death and through
prayer, we will return to our original state, and our souls will be at peace." This finally happens after the Adam and Lillith
DNA combine inside of Rei. The reunification with the masculine and feminine
aspects of the angels is the reunification of the world as well. This raises the question of why exactly the
world needs to be reunited. What does it mean for the world to be broken? To answer that, we need only turn to our adorable
friend the hedgehog. And no, not that one. Part two: The Hedgehog’s Dilemma
So much of Evangelion is eye candy. Sex. Big Robots. Explosions. More sex. The apocalypse. But it’s at its most profound when the narrative
dives into crimson red lakes of sadness, isolation, and the human condition. "I'm seeing these for the first time, and
yet this is not the first time." It pauses on empty streets, on telephone poles
where nothing scares the birds away, and on classrooms with no students. The world without half its population is a
sad place. The end of times isn’t partying like it’s
1999 — it just sucks. The characters’ miserable lives and intimacy
problems can be explained by a hedgehog and the preeminent philosophical pessimist Arthur
Schopenhauer. In his book Parega and Paralipomena: Short
Philosophical Essays. Volume 2, Schopenhauer details a short parable
that has become known as the hedgehog or the porcupine’s dilemma. In it, he explains the human condition by
comparing humans to hedgehogs huddled together for warmth. Though they crave warmth, hedgehogs can’t
get too close because of their quills. So, they keep their distance and remain cold
or they learn to live without the warmth of others. What does this have to do with Eva? Well, everything. The hedgehog’s dilemma is Eva’s guiding
theme. In episode three, Ritsuko explains the parable
to Mitsado, "Do you know the fable ‘The Hedgehog's Dilemma?’” "Hedgehog? You mean those animals with the spiny hair?" "Even though a headgehog may wanna become
close with another hedgehog, the closer they get the more they injure each other with their
spines. It's the same with some humans," and Episode
four is even called “The Hedgehog’s Dilemma.” That desire to be unhurt drives a wedge between
people. It creates a world of despair. We see that world, and its implications in
Episode sixteen titled, “sickness unto death” which is a reference to Danish philosopher
Soren Kierkegaard. A sickness unto death is despair — a terrible
existential loneliness, which goes along with Schopenhauer’s hedgehogs pretty neatly;
as does Episode twenty three. After Kaji is killed and he leaves a sad message
on Mitsado’s machine, she remarks: “Another phone that will never ring.” It’s the epitome of lonesomeness — waiting
for someone to reach out and call. It’s a depressing show, filled with depressed
people. Asuka pilots her Eva to find meaning in life. Without it, she’s just a sad girl crying
in a dingy apartment. We see in flashbacks thatm though she may
seem gruff, she fears being alone, and pilots her Eva to draw people toward her and expand
her world. “Everybody’s so nice to me now! I don’t feel lonely anymore!” Then there’s Gendo, who struggles with his
ability to show Shinji love and doesn’t know how to be a father. "When Shinji is near me, all I ever do is
cause him pain." When he’s reunited with Yui, he explains
that — “I never deserved to be loved.” — so he rejected the world so he wouldn’t
feel pain. In his book “The World as Will and Representation,”
Schopenhauer argues that life is suffering because the world is made up of will and representation. For Schopenhauer, the nature of reality is
unity. We’d all be at peace without the struggle
to communicate between individuals. Suffering is the result of individuality. To be human is to suffer because communication,
perception, and understanding will never be perfect and that struggle to connect is the
source of our suffering. The universe is really one thing in itself
- one entity — but each individual will or ego can only perceive the world from its
own vantage point or perception. That’s what Schopenhauer means when he says
representation. Anguish, fragmentation, alienation, and isolation
are all because each person is in charge of their will. And there is a disconnect between what we
desire and what the world gives us. Which is echoed by Kaworu: "This is mankind's
fate. The thread of human hope is spun with the
flax of sorrow." That separation of wills is what the show
calls AT-fields, which are something like the unique human soul that separates each
person’s ego. It’s sort of their life force. The barrier that keeps us from truly connecting
to each other. Several times characters have conversations
about what it means to be an ego and to have a body — usually as their body or consciousness
is slipping away. Rei does this in episodes 14 and 23. Both exchanges are reflections on what it
means to be a human being that has a body and is recognized by others. “You're right. At the core we are all the same.” “Our minds lack something basic.” ”And we fear that lack.” “We fear it.” “And that is why we are attempting to become
one.” “We will melt with and fill each other.” “This is the instrumentality.” “Mankind cannot live without being surrounded
by others.” “Mankind cannot live alone.” “Although you yourself are always unique.” “That is why life is hard.” “That is why life is sad and empty.” “Thus, you want the close physical and mental
presence of others.” “That is why we wish to become one.” This struggle with isolation and the pain
of rejection defines Eva. Unfortunately, as Schopenhauer tells us, being
alive means living with will and ego, and that means pain. That drive to get away from this pain and
ego is something we can explain with the help of our cocaine-addled friend Dr. Freud. Part three: Psychoanalysis
I know people are mad because Freud is considered a hack and didn’t science hard enough. I get it. But, hey - Eva explicitly uses Freudian terms,
ideas, and analysis. Episode nineteen is called introjection, a
Freudian term that explains how people take on the characteristics of the people around
them. You know copy cats. Episode twenty is called Weaving a Story 2:
Oral Stage. The Oral Stage corresponds to the weaning
of a child from breastfeeding. According to Freud, wean a child too soon
and they’re out of touch with people’s emotions and are generally sociopathic. Ween them too late and they’re dependent
too long on the mother for security and end up neurotic mama’s boys. Like that Robin Arryn kid from Game of Thrones. All the kids in the Eva’s pilot classes
are motherless children, or so they think. In fact, Shinji’s mom is Unit one’s soul
and part of Asuka’s mother’s soul is in Unit two. Both Evas use the souls inside them to further
bond with their pilots. How the pilot reacts to their mother is indicative
of their general disposition. It’s as Freudian as it can get — they’re
all mourning the lost love object that is their mother. Except Rei is less mournful and more melancholic
because she has no soul. As an artificial being, she has no real loss
to speak of; no mama soul to snatch and put in a robot. For Freud, mourning happens when we know what
we have lost — melancholia is much more serious — it occurs when people have no
idea what’s missing, only that it causes them deep, deep sadness (hence the need for
psychotherapy.) That’s why the last two episodes of the
show are literally a psychotherapy session inside Shinji’s mind. “But if you depend only on the Eva, then
the Eva will become your only identifier.” “Eva will become your only value.” “Without that value you — the real you
— will be erased from this existence.” We mentioned the Magi supercomputers before,
but we didn’t tell you that they have the mind of Dr. Naoko Akagi imprinted in them. They are reflective of the tri-part model
of the human unconscious: the controlling scientist as the ego, the mother as the punishing
and guilt inducing superego, and the woman as the sexual id. Episode eighteen is titled ambivalence - a
Freudian idea that Eva really leans into. Ambivalence is the way that people can passionately
hate and love at the same time. Like when I eat Chipotle. For example, Shinji is constantly talking
about how much he hates his father — "However, I really hated my father," — yet he gets
in the Eva over and over to make Daddy proud. In episode twelve he explains that he pilots
the Eva to hear words of praise from his dad. "I think I finally understood the good part
about being praised by someone when I heard my father's words, today. And, I also realized that the reason I pilot
my eva is to hear those words from him." He runs away from his dad, NERV, and his responsibilities
as an Eva pilot. But he keeps coming back. "I mustn't run away. I mustn't not run away." But the real smart stuff is done with Eros
and Thanatos — or the drive to life and the death drive. For Freud, beings are instilled with the pleasure
principle — the general inclination to avoid pain and maximize pleasure. So, in episode sixteen, when Shinji falls
into a Dirac sea (or a pocket universe) he laments, "This world is filled with too much
pain and suffering to keep going on," he is expressing his desire to minimize suffering
as it pertains to the pleasure principle. This struggle to avoid pain is aligned with
Schopenhauer’s ideas about will and struggle. How can we ever avoid suffering when we have
to share a world with other people, all of whom have their own desires that sometimes
get in the way of ours? How do we find peace? For Seele, NERV, and even individuals like
Gendo, and Shinji it all comes back to instrumentalization, the process by which all human consciousness
is combined into a primordial soup called LCL. That desire to join a unified whole and no
longer be concerned with issues of self comes up in Freud, too. It’s called The Death Drive. The death drive is a desire to return to tranquility
— to the peace and harmony of the womb. And what can be more peaceful than the end
of everything? Once it’s gone there’s nothing to worry
about. Episode 25 has a direct call to this with
the text: “the case of Shinji Ikari, the boy who wished for death of his own will". Then Gendo, in the mind of Shinji, states
that instrumentality: “is not a return to nothingness. It is merely a return to the state of beginning. It is no less than a return to the primal
womb that we lost so long ago. Souls and minds will become one, attaining
eternal balance.” A return to Lilith and Tikkun ha-Olam. The restoration of the world— or the reunification
with the primordial being. And so Seele and Nerv are working for the
death drive and they count on Shinji to become the arc for humanity that which will allow
them to return to a world without loneliness and isolation. Conclusion
So the human reaction to the hedgehog’s dilemma is to seek tranquility in a return
to the womb, but as we’ve seen, that’s simply a desire for death, a running away,
so what is to be done? Well, it’s Kaworu, a character who is not
entirely human, that shows us the way. Accepting vulnerability. Kaworu gives up his individual desires and
will so that Shinji can live; he is unguarded and open with his absolute love for Shinji. He represents a way out of the cycle of constant
suffering and isolation. And he just gives damned good advice: "I know
that by keeping others at a distance you avoid a betrayal of your trust. For while you may not be hurt that way, you
mustn’t forget that you must endure the loneliness. Man cannot completely erase this sadness because
all men are fundamentally alone. Pain is something that man must endure in
his heart, and since the heart feels pain so easily some believe life is pain.” In the final episodes, and the movie, Shinji
initially accepts instrumentalization, but when he understands just what he’d lose
… himself, he has a change of heart. “Your self-image is restrained by having
to observe the barriers between yourself, and others.” “And yet, you cannot see yourself without
the presence of others.” “Because there are others, I can perceive
myself as an individual! If I am alone, then I will be the same without
others! For if this world is only of me, then there
will be no difference between me and nothing!” At the end of the series Shinji rejects instrumentality. "I am me. I want to be myself. I want to continue existing in this world." He renounces a world where everyone is primordial
soup and shares one mind. "What is this... An empty space? An empty world? A world where nothing exists but myself? But with only myself, I have nothing to interact
with! It's as if I'm here, but not here at all! It's as if I'm slowly fading out of existence..." He opts for one where people can be hurt,
where we aren’t close, where there is separation and individual selves, where there are individual
wills, desires, and pain. He confronts the drive to inorganic existence
and accepts the inevitability of suffering in life. “That's correct. If the pain is too harsh, you can escape it.” “If you really hate it, Shinji, you can
still run.” “No! I won't! I'm tired of escaping! Yes -- I mustn't run away!” But he also opens the door for hope and joy. He opts for a world where we he can hurt and
be hurt. So the first thing he does when he rejects
instrumentality — he turns over and chokes Asuka. She responds by stroking his face, reminding
us that the world they chose is one of violence and pain, but also love. All three elements of the story: the theological,
psychological, and philosophical deal with something called lack. In psychology lack, as explored by the Freud-inspired
psychoanalyst and philosopher Jacques Lacan, is the missing center at the heart of our
existence, the missing piece between representation and the world in itself. Whether it be a scarcity of friends, failing
marriages and relationships, or distance between father and son. Eva is able to consistently weave a plot that
delves deep into the visceral reality of humanity’s disappointing existence. Three pilots: Rei, the Japanese word for soul,
ghost, not or zero, in unit zero. Shinji: the pilot of unit number one, the
first real person introduced, the other… the pilot of unit number two… a girl. A call back to the expulsion from Eden, the
world of infinite knowledge and life. In the end it’s just Asuka and Shinji. A new Adam and Eve. A new Beginning. "How disgusting." Hope you guys enjoyed this episode! And as always, peace!
Watched it. It has its flaws and trust me, Evangelion mispronunciation made me want to punch someone, BUT I think we should really support this video.
This will only be positive for the Eva community, as well as make the series easier to understand for others. It will ultimately bring in more people. Even if you already know everything(which, let's be honest, none of us really do)I still clicked on the video immediately.
It just made me want to watch and appreciate it all over again.
I'm surprised they could get away with showing Shinji's naked ass without getting Age Restricted. Prepare for it to get taken down and then to upload again with a pixellated Censor over Shinji's butt.
This will likely get some 500 thousand views at the least, I hope you guys know that.
I think a big factor in the rationale for unification that gets overlooked is the fact that the Earth has been destroyed by the Second Impact and is hardly inhabitable anymore outside of the mountainous regions. With the angels appearing from the prophesied Dead Sea Scrolls, they can save themselves with the Instrumentation rather than losing existence.
This comment section about the pronunciation.
(First things first: This is my personal approach, so chances are that I'm completely messing it up now. Consider it a piece of entertainment then) XD
That Schopenhauer title is a little bit tricky. Cause it's "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung".
= the world as will and.......representation? Imagination?
And he himself says in (t)his book: "Die Welt ist meine Vorstellung." = "The world is my...representation? Imagination?"
"Vorstellung" becomes an idiom here: "An expression peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language, especially when the meaning is illogical or separate from the meanings of its component words."
...and when its complete meaning turns out to be hard to explain in a foreign language.
This is I guess why native Japanese or people who really learned Japanese don't really like weebs and their questions. Because always having to explain such idioms can drain your energy XD
Asuka's "Kimochi warui" is also such a thing. Artists tend to fool around and fool their audiences with idioms.
Ok, "Vorstellung": The verb is reflexive in German, it's "sich etwas vor-stellen" aka literally "to put something in front of oneself".
Which will become a very crucial aspect here.
Schopenhauer himself builds up his philosophical system like that: All the objects around us - we know nothing of and about them, we only know their images within our imagination. At the beginning we don't know if they are only "spooky ghosts" in our minds, or if they are really representations inside of our mind, coming from objects outside of our mind, which really exist independently.
There need to be a "connection". Schopenhauer comes up with feels, e-motions, literally "moving out". (E-bike, e-card...I wouldn't be surprised if "e-motion" already became some sorta modern electronic patent XD). Motion and emotion. We feel, but we also move, willingly.
Of course modern science would shout "objection" here, for many things are happening in our brain before really coming into the "consciousness area" even when we think we do it fully willingly and consciously. This is a big issue esp when it comes to crimes. Maybe SEELE = soul, and NERV, the beast mode, the flash backs and so on are meant to refer to this.
Schopenhauer went even further, he said Will forms also the organs and the whole human body, therefore also the surrounding objects, and therefore is also responsible for the "sensual signals" that'll cause the objects to, well, penetrate the border between "me" and "not-me" (this is now Schop's colleauge Fichte), one could also say, the AT field, and then resulting in an image on the "inner canvas" which really happens to be a representation.
So the Will, or the World Spirit / Cosmic Mind ("Weltgeist") happens to be split into multiple objects and subjects, like mentioned in the video. That "cosmic split" is now another buddy: Hegel. The cosmic mind generates a "realm of minds/consciousnesses/point of views/spirits" ("Reich der Geister", this is Fichte again), and maybe are even "a multiple vision of God" who tries "prestabilizing" it all (this is now Leibniz). All are maybe even kind of sock puppets of this cosmic mind.
(It wasn't really too hard to turn such things into crazy animes, right?) XD
And there we have Full Metal Alchemist, maybe even Sailor Moon with Sailor Chaos and Sailor Cosmos (I'm not kidding) - or of course Evangelion.
In all cases the "eventual re-merger" fails, right? So there's only the longing, tendency, kind of a "magnetism". This is the world will. All the natural laws, the stuff that's going on, tension, opposition, merger, destruction, rebirth, between stars, planets, humans, animals, plants, molecules, atoms, is a manifestation of that will.
Too close, spikes, too far away, iciness. The hedgehog dilemma. (Renewed in Haruhi: She and Kyon too close = the universe almost shrinks to zero (E6), too far away from each other = world turns into snow and ice (Dissapearance of Haruhi movie), and the "SOS Brigade" always inbetween. Kyon and Haruhi are called "Adam and Eve" by one of the brigade members, and also look at the girls' uniforms...)
Neither can beings fully merge, nor can they totally avoid any contact. How come?
This is now Madoka Magica: We all need food for our bodycells, but also for our minds. That hunt for food already causes some rivalry, right? What we experience aka what comes on our inner canvas, will change our state of mind forever. Like the Pavlov dog: Give a dog a food bowl, he'll probably drool, ring a bell at the same time. Soon the dog will drool only when the bell rings. That's introjection, with the resulting introject becoming instantly an "interpreting tool" for reality and other introject(ion)s. One could consider it a special kind of those inner images and representations.
So we have a perpetual conditioning that perpetually forms and alters (maybe even corrupts) our character and our sensation. This will affect our reaction and deeds, and so we always reshape the world around us. Each of us has a survival toolbox, which rivals other toolboxes.
At the same time we need each other, like cells in a cell complex. And a cell complex often becomes a new organized system, an organism, with new qualities, properties, inner and outer tensions, like the hedgehog dilemma.
This phenomenon is called "emergence"
("An ant has no will, no plan" - Schopenhauer would disagree. All the body functions of the ant are part of the Will)
Kinda like Aristotle: "The whole thing is more than the sum of its parts."
An anime example of emergence is imho also Love Live. Not everyone's taste here of course.
The problem is: In order to deal with our lives, we always gotta come up with solutions, we always gotta use tools = instruments and come up with new ones.
We instrumentalize the world around us, and often other human beings too. And we are being instrumentalized. And this often becomes a problem: Misato being too late, meets Rit before the elavator. Rit says: "Don't do this again, we have not the time and the manpower!" - and pushes her into the elavator.
That's when it turns into an act of bullying, right? Rit instrumentalized Misato and her late arrival as valve for her inner problems. And she instrumentalized Shinji, who was a "wecome audience". It will take some time and effort for Misato to stand up against this, of course she then overdoes it by giving Rit a slap for instance.
She wanna protect the Children, and yet this aspect literally merges with her older anger against Rit. Two images on the inner canvas merge, both are representations of something, and their emergence creates something new, both inside and outside.
And this seems to be the way our mind "digests" its images and representations, like our stomach digests calories.
Paralleling stomach and mind in terms of digesting food and sensations and keeping the whole being alive - this goes even back to ancient Chinese times, it's called the "I Ching", chapter 27 - giving the advice to wisely decide how to use those new tools, for what comes out will change the world around us.
This is now finally Shinji vs Rei in EoE: He decides ("wills/wants") to refuse HIP and pulls Rei's hand out of his chest. Only then he can hold that hand again. Only seperate(d) beings, literally putting themselves in front of each other, can show each other affection and project comforting images on their inner canvas, and thus keep reshaping their minds and the world in a good way. Works also the bad way: By choking Asuka he becomes an ugly representation again...
And it's critically important to always reshape ourselves and the world in a (hopefully) good way. Cause NGE and it's TI / HIP show us an alternate take on the so called "Great Filter problem"
NGE now says: Our will is the great filter, and at the same time the only tool and solution to it....
Another anime (that's currently still under a hype XD) also focusses on that "prestabilizing cosmic mind vs personal will/loneliness" problem. It's Kimi No Na Wa, and a reviewer concludes with a magnificent statement
Maybe this will be the first Wisecrack video worth watching in about a year.
Fuck. Yes. Wisecrack.
I love this channel.